This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

From left, Patsy Pennington poses with Mike Pennington Award recipient Dr. Matthew J. Haught, journalism professor at the University of Memphis, and Dave Giroux, Head of Corporate Communications & Public Relations for Daimler Trucks North America, one of the many professionals Mike Pennington mentored during his career.

Haught receives 2016 Mike Pennington Award

Dr. Matthew J. Haught received the D. Mike Pennington Award for Outstanding Student Mentoring at its University of Memphis Journalism and Strategic Media Alumni Club awards dinner on Oct 13.

The award, given to a Journalism and Strategic Media faculty member who has been an exemplary guide and mentor to students, is named in memory of Mike Pennington, who earned his bachelor’s degree at the UofM in 1972. Pennington had a distinguished career as a business magazine journalist and corporate communicator, serving primarily in the trucking and its affiliated industries, where he mentored several colleagues.

Since joining the University of Memphis as assistant professor in 2013, Haught has taught visual journalism courses, advised 40 students each semester, and coordinated the internship program for the department. Haught earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Marshall University and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.

The Charles E. Thornton Award is named in honor of a former Memphis journalist who was killed while on assignment in Afghanistan in 1985. The Herbert L. Williams Award is named for the Department of Journalism’s founding chair.